Re: There Is No Freedom In China
Ever been to China or any 'authoritarian' country?
The average Joe in such countries doesn't usually have dealings with police, etc. in their ordinary daily life. Even Foreigners can go almost anywhere unhindered and poke around without drawing official attention.
If the Chinese government 'owned' the people, things would be very different to what they are.
The key to a peaceful existence is to ignore the political classes and just do your thing. Even the citizen 'spies' located on almost every block are harmless these days, besides we know who they are.
When I go on a buying trip I spend my first week or two orienting myself and locating products I want to buy. I leave my money in the hotel. Finally, when I have refined my shopping list I hire a 'heavy' and go out and spend my money.
In ViietNam the government structures are interesting. Every province is a replica of the national Ha Noi government. except for the military and ministry of foreign affairs. The police, part of the military, have two bosses - the local People Committee (council) and Ha Noi.
Ha Noi doesn't trust the provinces, for good reason, so it has a duplicated police/security function whose sole remit is to monitor the provincial activities. They look at the big picture - and keep an eye out for crime in the regular police and the Peoples Committees.
They don't have time to bug the whole population or to monitor every Foreigner. They know who their targets are.
And the average Joe citizen in VietNam simply ignores the politicians and gets on with Job 1 - making money.
Sure, we have city level inspectors for health and buildings bit many of the jobs are consigned to the bureaucratic handy people called Peoples Police (Cong An). They do many civil type functions from registering people in their homes, pollution control, crane inspection, etc.
And it works.
I am amazed as I drive my 3,000-4,000 kilometres a month around Ho Chi Minh City/SaiGon just how functional things are when compared to the West. No licenced outlets for alcohol, no petty minded wanna-be Plods being bossy.
In the West everything is monitored. Smartmeters are obviously the latest way to control the population (read the UN documentation on it). You are scanned, added to databases, tracked. Hardly a life of freedom.
I have been to over a hundred countries in my lifetime and some of the most oppressive regimes are in the West - the USA and the UK being near the top.
So before you go knocking other countries, take a hard look at where you live.
And when was your last interaction with Plod or the Cops? Mine was over a tear ago. That's freedom.
VietNam has been my home for 23 years and I hardly have any dealings with officialdom
Biting the hand that feeds IT
